Description: This function checks the continuity of the solid elements. A free surface is the face of a solid element that is occupied by one solid element. DSI will replot the solid elements on screen displaying only the free surfaces. Any unexpected quad or tri surface indicates potential errors in the solid element connectivity.
Usage:
1. CHECK FREE SURFACE
• The following five messages will appear in the command line area of the screen:
> XXXX SURFACES FOUND
> CHECKING FOR FREE SURFACES
> XXXX SURFACES CHECKED
> CONTRUCTING FREE SURFACES
> xxxx FREE SURFACES FOUND
• The user is now placed in a FREE SURFACE sub-menu.
2. FREE SURFACE
• The following are brief descriptions of the options for the FREE SURFACE sub-menu:
DISTANCE
• This measures the distance between the points and nodes.
IDENTIFY ELEMENT
• This identifies the element numbers of the plate elements that represent the free surfaces in the FREE SURFACE sub-menu. Each plate element ID is identical to the solid element ID (i.e., one solid element with the ID xyz will have the plate elements that correspond with ID xyz).
IDENTIFY NODE
• Identifies the nodes in the solid elements and acquires the node numbers and the X, Y, Z global coordinates.
CREATE EL. FROM SURF
• Creates plate elements on the free surfaces of the displayed solids. The plate elements will reside on the screen in the current part at the time of creation.
• In order to for the user to identify any unwanted free surfaces, DSI creates plate elements that carry element/node numbers from a parent solid element. If these plate elements are used in a model, they should be renumbered with the RENUMBER ELEMENT and RENUMBER NODE commands in the ELEMENT OPTIONS and NODE OPTIONS menus, respectively.
EXIT
• Returns the user to the MODEL CHECKER menu.